watchable, actually quite enthralling, I grew attached to the characters, and I caught some of the black humour, but the ending sucked. I mean seriously - W. T. F.
It's like a non-ending. Unless the point of the ending is just to say that all of your troubles seem like nothing when faced with a

<SPOILER>

natural disaster like a bloody great big tornado.

</SPOILER> 

I like it very much, though I do think it's over rated. I love the way that the film noir plot points juxtapoze with the more modern setting/ characters, and I love goodman and Buscemi. Also the penis sketch, that gets me every time.

Also watched Lost Highway the other day - other than the 90's-ness of it, I really really enjoyed that movie. Marilyn Manson, Henry ROllins and RAMSCHTEIN are super distracting though - did the financiers make him shoehorn that crap in there or what?

Going to watch Elephant man very soon.


Has black swan been discussed?
AMAZING sound design in that movie. Watched that thing very high in the front row and was pretty happy with the final product. 

I thought daybreakers had like, 2 interesting parts/concepts, but was pretty terrible overall. 

Elephant Man is my favorite Lynch though, and my third favorite film of all time. But now with that buildup, you'll probably hate it :) 

I don't know about others, but I thought the ending wrapped things up pretty nicely. As a whole, the story can be described as a version of the story of Job. The ultimate bet, that is God pisses on someone every day, they'll eventually renounce him. In the bible, Job proved God right, never renouncing him.

In the movie, the main character fails, by caving in with the student. God tested him, threw a storm of shit at him, but he lasted. Towards the end, things are looking up for him. He's probably going to be promoted, his wife is coming back to him, his son had a good Bar-Mitzvah thing. He passed.

but...

Then he changes the grade. I think it no coincidence that was soon as he changes it, the phone rings, with what appears to be bad news. The tornado at the end? Most likely kills his son.

Earlier in the movie, they referenced Schrodinger's cat. The phone call almost seems to be a direct example of it. If he changes the grade, is the news good? I think it is.

But since he did change it, there's going to be hell to pay. 

There's a lot of things in that movie I know nothing about. That's probably why I didn't get it. Although it makes a bit of sense now I guess. I enjoyed the performances :) 

I was going to post something but his is a lot more coherent.

And Sy Abelman is up there with classic Coen characters. 

I love it, one of my favorites, must've seen it 5-7 times and i still laugh my ass off watching it. I know almost all the lines ;-)

Interestingly enough, this is one movie where I think that the German dubbing adds to the movie: they translated every "fuck" into "bekackt", which is not actually a term you commonly use in German (it's legal grammar though, I think) -- that makes it a lot more surreal and weird, I can imagine. 

The Big Lebowski is bekackting phenomenal. One of my favorites. 

i wonder how well a german version of this would work... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU2ZgaQ_H-Y 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olEbBgS0oDc
not as good as the original, i guess ;O 

 

brilliant :D 

fail, for me, rather shockingly, never having seen either of these massively successful and critically acclaimed movies prior to yesterday...

fargo - in light of the above coen bros discussion it dawned on me i'd never got round to seeing what is probably their most popular effort. it's par for the course for them with regards to pace, suspense and black humour but what sold it for me was the sheer bleakness of the snow-ridden setting, which complimented the overall vibe perfectly. margie was one of the most refreshing protagonists i've ever seen too and provided some appreciated light amidst the darkness. satisfying!

fight club - i'm honestly quite disgusted and appalled at myself for calling myself a film fan for the past 11 years having not seen this. i knew the 'twist' almost straight away after its release which i think put me off and i even gave it a miss after one time i started watching it accidentally, way back around 2000 in the kazaa days, when i thought i'd downloaded the matrix.. heh. but i saw it last night and it's probably rocketed its way straight into my all time top 5. at least. i was virtually buzzing for a full hour after it finished.. just my kind of movie on every level 

Dexter Season 5
A waste of a great premise, and a waste of my time. 

and what is your top 5 rj?

started watching Repulsion last night. 2/3rds through. my god, what tripe this is so far. i'll finish it today tho.

i liked fargo, loved fight club (not enough for me top 30 tho) 

Didn't really live up to the hype, sort of like the Matrix all over again. The premise may have been mind blowing for several people unfamiliar or only mildly into scifi, but seemed rather convoluted and uninspired to me. It wasn't a bad movie by any stretch, but the hype surrounding it just left it rather flat in the end. 

Repulsion is absolutely awesome in my book.

Would like to hear why you didnt like it though. 

kona, you've just made me sit and think for the past half hour and i'm not sure i even have a solid top 5 any more :)

my problem is i often like different films for completely different reasons. so it's hard to compare them. ones that will always work for me are:

human traffic - mainly because it reminds me of the happiest nights of my life but also for being hilariously warped, brilliantly acted and with every true-to-life nuance down to a T, all wrapped up with a heartwarmingly simple message that has resonated with me over the years. that said it's not one i'd recommend on filmmaking qualities alone; it's more of a cult thing

donnie darko - i know a few have criticised the time travel elements for being too fantasy; i personally love the fantasy element and found it suitably captivating in an escapist kind of way. i love the dialogue, i love the atmosphere, music, editing & visuals. i love how i actually feel a part of donnie's world rather than merely being an appreciative onlooker, sucked in through a portal of my own into kelly's ever-repeating tangeant universe...

the truman show - i'll always remember first watching this expecting a typical jim carrey comedy and suddenly realising part-way through just how dark the actual premise is. it actually left me profoundly uncomfortable in places, which possibly made the ending feel all the more uplifting. i've appreciated the satirical elements on repeat viewings, too

memento - i like all of nolan's movies but this will never be topped for sheer ingenuity. no real emotional connection for me in it; i'm just consistently blown away by how awesome it is

that's almost five! i might just give #5 to fight club since i can't decide between the usual suspects, l.a. confidential, in bruges, t2, aliens, dead poets society, requiem for a dream... and my 'to watch' list is still looking absolutely huge with some pretty notorious names on it 

Yeah donnie darko, the truman show and memento are all brilliant movies. i think a lot of people, the 'film critics' who won't put any post 90's films in their greatest list, would overlook the truman show because of jim carey and the elements of comedy he put in it. but carey made that movie for me; the last 15mins when he escapes the house was very gripping. 

well i haven't finished it yet nitin, but I was expecting an intense, psychological thriller. instead it's been quite boring so far because her downward spiral seems to be poorly done and poorly acted, consisting mainly of her staring into space and ignoring people and a couple rape hallucinations.
there's no reasoning behind her issues, as yet. she's quite an unlikable lead character.

and roman's long, lingering shots of nothing of relevance (ie the weird band marching across the street, took forever) aren't that appealing.

still, i'm not at the end yet so maybe i'll like it more once i'm finished watching, as is often the case. 

All his stuff. The Truman Show is proof that he can actually act, without always having to be OTT. But yeah - beautiful movie.

Watched No Country for Old Men. That was kinda arty.

Human Traffic is good, and it reminds me too of going out and getting completely fucked up on Ecstasy. But allas, those days are gone. Which makes a large portion of the movie seem trashy. Having said that there are some awesome scenes. Peter fucking Andre!?? Yeeah - I'd like to get a fuckin' coathanger, and fuckin RAM it down his fuckin japseye....

Anyone else put Forrest Gump in the top 5?

The Green Hornet - enjoyable. Kinda like The Dark Knight meets Pineapple Express. 

interesting because I think Catherine Deneuve puts in one of the all time great performances :)

Also, as for reasoning behind her character, all you get is the final shot really (which I personally think is enough but your thoughts may vary). The rest is upto you.

As for Jim Carrey, I forgive him for all his crap for doing Eternal Sunshine and Trumans Show (although the latter really works because of Peter Weir). 

Watched it all Nitin. Yeah the final shot was good and explained a lot, although they should have ONLY shown it at the end instead of the other couple times in the film.

All the little things symbolising her descent and sexuality were good. I'm not a big fan of, not necessarily slow movies, but slow camera shots. At the same time I hate that blockbusters have to have big entertaining scenes every 3mins, but watching the camera pan from a cushion to rug for 30secs just annoys me. It's too artsy and film schooly.

I suppose it makes sense in this movie, it was supposed to be slow like that.

Anyway I certainly didn't hate the movie, but I didn't love it either. Eraserhead and Persona were better crazy movies. 

fair enough, I dont mind slow stuff (movie or camera shots) provided they obviously serve a purpose (which as you say in this movie was more for mood rather than anything else). If done right, I dont consider something like that film schooly (although its definitely artsy but I dont consider that a criticism).

Anyway, I always like to hear why people dont like particular movies (or vice versa) so keep them coming.